Sec Basketball Tournament Bracket lays out a Florida test as Kentucky and Tennessee push through

The sec basketball tournament bracket has moved into a tighter, higher-stakes phase in Nashville, with quarterfinal matchups set after Kentucky and Tennessee advanced and Oklahoma and Ole Miss also moved on. The 16-team SEC men’s tournament is being played at Bridgestone Arena and runs from Wednesday, March 11 through the title game on Sunday, March 15 (all times ET).

What does the Sec Basketball Tournament Bracket set up for the quarterfinals?

After Thursday’s action, four quarterfinal games are on deck, with seeds, opponents, tip times, and TV assignments now clearly mapped. The matchups are:

• No. 9 Kentucky vs. No. 1 Florida — 1 p. m. ET —
• No. 5 Tennessee vs. No. 4 Vanderbilt — 3: 30 p. m. ET —
• No. 15 Ole Miss vs. No. 2 Alabama — 7 p. m. ET — SEC Network
• No. 11 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Arkansas — 9: 30 p. m. ET — SEC Network

The bracket’s structure puts Florida immediately into a high-profile quarterfinal against Kentucky, while Tennessee’s path continues against Vanderbilt. On the late side of the schedule, Ole Miss draws Alabama, and Oklahoma faces Arkansas.

Which results locked in the matchups?

Four games finalized the quarterfinal field and the seed pairings. Kentucky beat Missouri 78–72. Tennessee beat Auburn 72–62. Ole Miss beat Georgia 76–72. Oklahoma beat Texas A& M 83–63.

Oklahoma’s win came with notable developments around guard Nijel Pack. He scored 20 points in the victory, but left the game late after a collision with Texas A& M’s Marcus Hill and did not return. Pack returned to the bench with a towel on his nose. The Sooners, seeded No. 11, now advance to face No. 3 Arkansas in the quarterfinals.

Why Florida’s position draws attention as the tournament continues

Florida enters this stage as the defending SEC tournament champion, having defeated Tennessee 86–77 in the 2025 championship game, and later winning the NCAA tournament title. The quarterfinal pairing against Kentucky arrives with Florida positioned as the No. 1 seed.

Florida’s current spotlight is also tied to its recent form. After struggling early in the season and falling out of the national rankings completely by early January, Florida finished the season on an 11-game win streak and captured its first regular-season SEC title since 2014.

At the same time, Kentucky’s place in the sec basketball tournament bracket carries historical weight: Kentucky has won the most SEC tournament titles with 32. That backdrop now collides with the immediate reality of a quarterfinal meeting with Florida in Nashville.

As quarterfinals begin, the bracket is no longer a broad 16-team map. It is a four-game funnel, and each tipoff further defines who reaches the weekend, who falls short, and which narratives will dominate the run to Sunday’s title game.